Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“Vilnius is the city where, through St. Faustina, the world heard the message of God’s mercy anew,” Archbishop Gintaras Grušas preached on March 11, at a special Mass for peace. “Here the image of the Merciful Jesus was painted. Here the truth was proclaimed again that evil does not have the final word.”

“Prayer for peace may seem too simple,” he continued. “We may be tempted to underestimate it ... Evil is not limitless. Violence is not all-powerful. War is not the ultimate reality. God’s mercy is stronger.”

He added:

Today the world is again wounded. Ukraine suffers. The Holy Land bleeds. Many conflicts remain in the shadows ... [Yet] every heart that calls upon God becomes a place where a limit is set to evil. Peace begins with a heart that allows God to purify it.

Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, lamented the death of Father Pierre al-Rahi, killed in an Israeli attack on a Christian village in southern Lebanon.